My Blog

Retirement. Publishers, thank you for the many years of reading pleasure you gave me, but all good things must come to an end. Due to failing eyesight I am forced to retire. I can no longer review your books, and any that you send will be donated to the local library, unread. Do not send any more. I can only read for a couple hours every day, and this does not allow me to finish a book in reasonable time. I will be devoting time to my own books from now on, and reading on a personal level. Books that interest me. I prefer paperbacks and hardbacks, not eBooks. My eyesight has been failing the last few years, and I cannot handle hundreds of review books any more. My books are still available for review. Anyone interested in reviewing any of them, they are found in the Link to Tom’s Books On Amazon. Contact me for pdf copies at fadingshadows40@gmail.com

Tuesday, October 25, 2016

When a man
so anemic that he could be a vampire’s victim comes to Patricia Savage for
rescue, the impetuous girl can’t say no. Excitement is her meat and danger her
dessert. Accompanied by Doc Savage aide, Monk Mayfair, Pat finds herself in the
worst danger of her life. Wanted for murder, hounded by the minions of a weird
mystery figure calling himself Chief Standing Scorpion, narrowly evading the
hordes of the Vinegarroon tribe, the bronze-skinned golden girl battles her way
to a sinister secret cached in an ancient ruin. From the oilfields of Oklahoma
to the forbidding Ozark Mountains, the trail of scorpionic doom winds. Will Pat
Savage’s first great adventure also be her last?

Monk
Mayfair is with Pat Savage in Oklahoma, where he’s helping the bronzed beauty
lay claim to oil leases. They start out in trouble when a crook sabotages her
rented plane while trying to beat her to a lease. They survive the crash, and
then Monk pulls a stunt on the crooks, allowing Pat to make the lease first.
But their troubles aren’t over. When they reach town they run into a man almost
dead from lack of blood. While rushing him to the hospital a gang waylays them
and a cop is killed at the scene. But now Pat and Monk are on the investigation
of this weird mystery. A mystery that involves the Vinegarroon whip scorpions
and a tribe of Osage Indians led by Tall Turkey and the mysterious robed
leader, Standing Scorpion.

Readers
and fans of the Doc Savage adventures have been waiting for this book since
Will Murray took over the series. Patricia Savage, the bronzed cousin of Doc
Savage, was always a favorite of the fans, having been introduced in Brand of The Werewolf. Mr. Murray found
notes Lester Dent had proposed for a 1931 pulp adventure story, and turned it
into a Pat Savage yarn instead, and the result might outshine Doc himself.

As a fan
of Doc Savage I’ve always worried that Doc would run it course and cease to
interest fans; after all, the original series ran for 181 (plus the unpublished
RED SPIDER) stories in the pulps, and readers have wondered if new adventures
would even be possible, and how long could new stories sustain the series?
Well, I don’t think the interest will really fade, but if it should, I think
Pat Savage will quickly revive the series. The
Six Scarlet Scorpions is a topnotch tale that will insure success, and I’m
sure we will see many more adventures of The Wild Adventures of Pat Savage in
the future. Highly recommended.

Friday, October 14, 2016

Johnny Trescott is CPO of the Coast Guard Patrol boat
CG 1004. Johnny is hoping to run down Georges Coquelin, captain of the
notorious Phantom Patrol. Coquelin is transporting drugs to the US, and
anything else he can get his hands on. When Trescott receives a radio alert
about a plane in the water, he turns the boat towards the sinking plane. It’s
carrying millionaire businessman James Ferguson, two pilots and a stewardess. They
reach it barely in time to rescue the crew and Ferguson, but Coquelin and his
pirate crew have sneaked up in the storm and all disappear for three months. Although
CG 1004 is reported attacking and robbing ships and killing passengers, and the
captain of the boat looks a lot like Trescott. The Coast Guard believes
Trescott has turned crook, and is holding Ferguson for ransom. Meanwhile,
Truscott and his crew, as well as the plane crew and Ferguson, are all
prisoners of Coquelin on an island. It’s up to Truscott to escape somehow and
bring help to capture the Coquelin and rescue the prisoners. This short novel
was originally published in the January 1935 issue of FIVE NOVELS. As with all
of Hubbard’s early pulp writing, there is plenty of action to go with a good
plot and interesting characters.These
old stories were some of his best writing during the heyday of the pulp
magazines. Highly recommended.

Saturday, October 1, 2016

Mystery Men contains three interrelated short stories, as the
Crimson Crusader (a vigilante), Karma (a martial artist) and Dr. Stellar (a
scientist) each face a different aspect of a deadly threat to mankind. These
heroes bridge the gap between pulp vigilantes and superheroes, operating in the
1936 Argentverse.

Mystery Men (Superhero Fiction)

By Jeff Deischer

Westerntainment Publication

ISBN #978-1537500003

152 Pages

$13.00

Rating 5-Stars

“A Fun Read”

From the Argent universe, the author brings us three
entertaining stories featuring three different heroes in connecting stories.
The time is the mid 1930s, and otherworldly aliens are on Earth. They are using
higher technology to force humans to work for them. The stories reminded me of
Saturday Matinee serials and over-the-top pulp heroic tales of the Thirties, as
well as the super heroes of the comic books from the same period; great
characters, and lots of action. The author spins tales of daring-do, with
heroes facing great odds, yet overcoming in the end, and we know that good will
triumph over evil when we turn to the last page. The Crimson Crusader, Karma,
and Dr. Stellar are thrown into the war in separate tales, stopping space
aliens from conquering our planet.A
quick and fun read, not to be missed. Highly recommended.